Seniors:
A win against Bluff makes it one-all for the season against the Port side so far this year and fromt he reports received back from our boys on their return from Bluff after thae game, they are looking forward to the next encounter.
2nd Grade:
Just got home against a pretty lively Pirates side, in a game that held the interests of sid eline experts and players alike.  Rex Shore and his boys are to be congratulated for the type of Rugby the produced and with the state of the second grade competition being as it is, every win will be of the utmost importance.
Under 20:
Came out on top again over a pretty determinded Collegiate side.  It was pleasing to see some of these players really applying themselves.  Lewis showed how it can be done if only the boys would give it a go a bit more often.
Under 18:
It was disappointing that this team had to play 2 short, which made it very hard for the boys on the field to play against a full team.
Under 16:
Lost to the highly rated Kingswell side by 20-4 and lost nothing in comparison.  Our U16 team continues to play good rugby against the school sides.

Seniors:
A much improved display saw Blues defeat Pirates in a hard fought game by 13-6.
Colin Millar showed how essential it was to tidy up loose ball effectively.  Roger Ramsay was again of tremendous value in the tight driving play.  He was ably assisted by Kevin Duke, Barry Lindsay and  Murray Leach.  
Bruce Hay overcame some early difficulties to turn in a solid second half performance.  All the backs played their part well, Phillip Stevenson saved a potential try through great tackling.  Wingers, Trevor Keelty and Evan McLellan both scored tries.
Second Blacks:
Once again proved superior in a scrappy game against Star.  Simpson kicked 8 points and Donaldson scored three tries for the second week in a row.  The forwards stuck to task and won plenty of ball with Berry, Sutherland and Robertson to the fore.
Second Blues:
After a torrid encounter with Collegiate, came out the victors, 18-3.  It was pleasing to see Jed Sharp, Dave Ross and Paul Hewitt all having good games.  There are a few blokes far too half-hearted in their approach and we all know who they are.  
Under 20's
Went down to a strong High School team by 10-8.  Blues missed S. Pokere when he left the field after scoring a good try.  The whole forward pack played well and won their share of ball. S. Christie also scored a great try.
Under 18's
Had a good game against Waikiwi, winning 20-4 with a much dpleted team.  Some of our boys on the side line are getting games because though not brillant Rugby players, they are regular trainers.  Good games by Ian Sutherland, Ross Hamill and Paul Turner.

Turning on a powerful display of controlled forward play, the Seniors did not give Old boys a chance in the first semi-final game.  The game was not spectacular to watch - it was match winning football rather than crowd pleasing, but Star it its position had to go out to win, even it if meant playing to its strength  and keeping the play in the forwards.  And it did just that in most professional way with Graham Crawford at first-five and Kevin Gaines at half-back keeping the ball in front of their forwards for most of the game and making good use of the wind in the first half.
The other backs did not see much ball though John Ryder got a good try by fast following up kick, while Lin Booth, back again after a month  through injury.  It was encouraging to see Ron Cardno regain his good kicking form - his pot from half-way was magnificent.
The whole forward pack played a mighty game and completely subdued the lively Old Boys forwards with Barb Barber in particular being outstanding.  It is astounding the way this fellow plays so well when only half fit and carrying surplus condition - he had not played or trained for a month through injury, yet was the leader of the forwards for the whole game, making some devastating barging runs.  No other forward could be singled out in such a good pack - though Keith McLeod should be mentioned for the five tight heads he won and Craig Hanon for the good line-out ball he won.  If the forwards had a fault, it was that at times the first man up to an opponent with the ball did not put him to the ground, but let him get a pass or a kick away.
Altogether, it was a most encouraging return to form by the Seniors and now that their injured players are back, they should go through to the final.
U20's
The seconds and Under 20's were outclassed by Blues and Bluff.
U17's
Were unlucky against High  School, going down by a penalty goal in the closing stages of the game.  The score did not indicate the run of play and Star forwards were on top for most of the game.
Peter O'Connor and Stephen Andrews, while Robert Mackay and Michael Keen also went well. Graham Williamson in the backs played a good all-round game.

The seniors were scratching to hold Old boys out at the finish of their game at Oreti Park just lasting for a 26-22 victory.  They became a very disorganised side in the second half after looking world beaters in the first  half and thinking they had it sewn up.  Dave Roddick, playing at first five-eight (his true position), set the backline moving well and led them up on the opposition on defence.  Only one "blue" in the second half marred an otherwise excellent game.  John Purdue toiled well in the tight while Doug Smith stood out in the loose  winger Gerald Healey added another three tries to his list of 15 in the last six games and B. McEwan was in fine form with his boot, kicking four conversions.

The second grade side struggled to keep Star out 12-9, after earlier looking to have an easy win.  Murray Calvert at centre played solidly throughout and was a tower of strength and versatile Ian Race nipped  in for a good winger's try.  Big lock Paul King stood out in lineout and general play.  Diminutive hooker , Gordon Fraser relished the conditions, showing good speed to the ball.  Flanker Murray Smith gave a good exhibition of covering work for the full 80 minutes.

Against Murihiku, the thirds managed a 3-3 draw after leading with five minutes to go.  They played much better in the second half after tackling lapses.  Ross Herritt had another steady game at full-back and first five Gordon Watson proved to be a good  link.  Gavin Murray on the side had a better game, particularly on attack and the NO. 8 Ivan Padget continued with his consistently good games.  Prop, Graham Foote had his moments in the second half, showing a good sense of anticipation.

Another win to the fourth grade side, 11-9 over Woodlands, put them in the front of their section of the competition.  A lack of lineout and scrum ball in the first half did  not assist the, but as the game ran on, hooker Peter Smith struck form to take several tight heads.  Rob Allan, at lock, was easily the best forward, this lad's stead attitude to the game is going to take him far.  Five-eight Neil Buchanan played a very head game, placing his kicks well for the wing with centre Paul McKerchar scoring off one of them.  Winger Rob Hunter scored his first try for the season, but for the ability he shows he could well have scored more.

On Sunday last we played our old friends from Justice Institution with a win to Murihiku.  It was a fast game with the better team winning in the main by being fitter.

The institution team played a hard running game, tossing the ball around.  Our boys played a reasonable game but just could not combine to make a driving team.  John Taylor ran hard but did not get enough good ball to show results.  Mike Adamu, Bill Heki, Sam Wainui all played as well as the conditions allowed and made a number of good breaks.

Ron White as hooker played well and Gabby Haitana made excellent breaks, scoring two opportunist tries.  Danny Madden also played a driving game and made some good drives.  Ken Katene played his usual working game and Keith Portor did some very useful work.  David Donaghue ran hard scoring a try in the first half.  Lenny Peterson, Mark Nepia and Mike Adamu all really tried to play rugby and endeavour to keep the game flowing.  The team to play the first South Island trial at Clinton was picked and the boys were quite keen to hear the team read out.  Some surprises were evident in the team.

Ken Katene has again made the Southland Junior team.

Thanks to Stormie for refereeing the game and president, John Taylor.

Congratulations to our captain, Mark Nepia, who is playing for the Southland Maori side and playing, well.

I

A few hardy souls braved the weather at Oreti Park and found it well worth while.  with the regular front row trio away with the Southland side they were thrilled with the amount of ball Roger Ramsay, as hooker, collected.  He seemed to get about 90 per cent.   Add to this the fact that Bruce Stephens has sharpened up his passing from the base of the scrum and the other backs received plenty of good ball to play with.  L. Lumsden went well at centre and Doug Nicol is getting ack to form, his try and conversion in the last minute being both excellent.  Greb Stanley had his best game of the season and could have scored after a very good movement if someone had not shouted for the ball at the wrong moment.  The win by 8-5 over  Collegiate was a well deserved one.

The seconds went to Waikiwi to play the local side in almost impossible conditions and covered themselves with glory to win by 19-3.

Mr G. Aker, the referee deserves credit for allowing the game to flow freely in the conditions.  Tries were sored by M. Barclay, A. Payne, B. Chamberlain and W. Matthews, while M. Barclay and J. Harley kicked conversions.  Only one member of the side recorded no points this season.  In a very good pack J. Harley, W. Green and G. Clode stood out while G. Stevens, M. Barclay and W. Matthews were pick of the backs.

The third grade side journeyed to Tokanui and were beaten 14-5 by the local boys.  The backs were looking for ball all day but the forwards were loathe to give it to them.  Tackling was poor and A. Wallace was the only player prepared to go down on the ball in the face of forward rushes.  The team was thankful for the service of four fourth-graders, one of whom, Alister McKenzie, scored a good try on the wing.

With Southern Star withdrawing from the competition, our fourth grade had a bye and the coaches were unable to arrange a friendly game  Some players have not had their names mentioned in the column and this give the writer the opportunity to mention some.  K. Knight, though lacking pace, has tried hard all season and is always in attendance.  B Agnew is a very useful hard-working prop; K. Murdoch has had to give the game up due to a head injury.  C. O'Keefe has had a mixed season with injuries and sickness; W. de Clifford a speedy winger who always tries hard; W. Murchland has done well at wing and centre; T. McPhedran could be out for the rest of the season with a knee injury; G. Walker has given good service as prop and reserve hooker.

Star pulled off a surprise 6-4 win over Bluff in the curtain raiser at Rugby Park in1983.
Flynn's effort, from the 22 mete line and 15 metres in from touch, never looked like missing and in the heavy and slippery conditions Bluff had no chance of making up the leeway once Star had the bit between its teeth.
Bluff had by far the better possession in the game but failed to make good use of it.
Half-back Chris Hiini started the game at second five-eight but  injuries necessitated a change in the backline and Hiini moved into half-back.  From that stage there was a clearer plan of attack from Bluff as Hiini chipped the ball over the forwards to try and get his team rolling on to it.
However, the Star team applied itself well and stuck to its guns.  In the second half in particular, it worked and kept itself in a position to secure a win.
It went into the game without the services of usual kicker Brian McKechnie and it was winger Robbie Hill who landed the first penalty goal, seven minutes into the game.
After 11 minutes, a high kick ahead was dropped by a Star player in his own in-goal area and Bluff first five-eight Tony Neilson was on hand to drop on the ball and score a try.
However, that was all the scoring until Flynn's penalty goal with 10 minutes remaining.
Rain fell throughout the first half and made the conditions wet and slippery.  The stop-start nature of the play relfected this.
Neither team was able to gain an ascendancy and most beneficial ground was gained by plugging the touchlines with deft kicks from the respective half-backs - although there was some very untidy kicking exchanges throughout the game.
Flynn thoroughly deserved to kick the winning points for his team after a non-stop effort in all facets of play.
Bluff packed a strong scrum and several times had Star on the backfoot.  However in spite of some good work by lock Kauvai Mitiau and flankers Jeff Mead and Mark Perkins, Bluff was unable to set itself up to score more points and its downward trend continues.
STAR:
Robbie Hill (1)  Shaun Flynn  (1) PG
BLUFF:
Tony Neilson (1) Try
REFEREE
Neil Buchanan

Wyndham retained their position in the Eastern Southland Senior Rugby Competition in 1964 when it beat Pioneer 12-0.
Pioneer was their own worst enemy as the poor tackling in the backline and lack luster forward work by losing ball in scrum, however they did win most of the lineout ball.
The Pioneer backs were dangerous on attack, but could not break through the tight defence and in most cases the ball either died or was kicked to touch.
Because of injuries, Pioneer had to rely again on old hands, with Robin Archer not having much luck, but John Smith played a sound game at full-back.
Wyndham's star players were J. Howe, who played second five eight, and Ray Todd, on the wing.  Both these players are worth of a place in the Eastern team, which would have given the selectors a headache.
Wyndham opened the scoring after 10 minutes of play when Todd received a long pass from D. Frew to cross in the corner for a try. About 15 minutes later Howe scored.
I. Gutsell scored Wyndham's third try in the second half when he scooped up a loose ball to dive over for a try in the corner.  The final points of the game came from A. Burns who kicked a 23 yard penalty goal from out in front.

With the trio of Kevin Tapper, William Brocks and Phillip Wallis winning two singles each the southland men's No 1 beat Otago 8-4.  Tapper took Otago's top man, Paul Sykes to 21-19 in the third set and although making some great returns it was the more aggressive Sykes who was superior.
The women's tam went down to Otago 4-8  with Ngaire Garrett winning tow singles and Lena McCauley one.  Helen Bray, Otago's penhold player won all her matches.
The boys' under 18 No. 1 team found the Otago trio a handful when losing 9-3 but southland's Blair Davies had a good win over Colin Holden, Nguyen Chau also performed well to go to three sets in all  his matches, but appeared to lose concentration the longer the game lasted.
The Southland girls' under 18 team thrashed Otago, 11-1 but was fortunate that Otago's Jennifer Lawn was included in the women's team.  As expected Jane Bodkin and Kathryn Crook dominated their opponents and the team's No. 3, Trish Beattie claimed two wins.
Otago proved too strong in the boys' under-15 section, beating the Southlanders 8-4 but Robert Old won all his matches.  Gordon Law and Bernard Joyce were both having their first match for the team.
The spin serves of Yee in particular, gave the Southland boys some problems.
In the under 15 girls, Otago ran out the winner 8-4, with Marie Shaw having two good wins and narrowly losing her third game.
Of the other matches played between the two provinces, the Southland men's No. 2 team was well beaten, with Bruce Lowe picking up an easy win over former Southland Jonathan Geddes. 

​

It was all Invercargill (Blues) at Rugby Park in July 1983, where Invercargill outplayed Bluff and gained two further points against a hapless port side.

The play went as follows:

Grant Soper kicked off, ball bounced in middle of field and was quickly picked up by Peter O'Callaghan at speed, which made it almost impossible for Bluff to stop.  He was tackled just before line and he managed to pass to centre, Wayne Boynton, who casually pass to winger Ian Donaldson which meant the try was a mere formality.

The Bluff team settled down after this and lock, Tony Armstrong and No. 8 Kauvai Mitiau dominated the lineouts in the first 20 minutes of game. 

The inability to convert two penalty goals meant the port team went scoreless for a long period, despite their hard work.

Tony Proctor, Invercargill, got himself out of ruck, sold a great dummy and then quickly passed to Ian Donaldson who pushed away Bluff's first five eight, Tony Neilson and then in-passed to his own first five eight, Phil Stevenson who dived over for a great try.

22 Minutes later, Invercargill attacked from within its own half and with half-back Milton Haig supporting Soper, the break was provided for winger Reid Boynton to race away and score.

After 34 minutes Donaldson attempted to clear the ball from wide out within his own 22 metre area.  However, he was tackled at the instant he took the kick and the ball went like a bullet into the midriff of the Bluff flanker Jeff Mead, who was running at full speed and close to the sideline he popped ball infield to beat a tackle and then ran along line to dive over in corner.

Invercargill, quickly responded when No. 8 TonyWinsloe capped off the second blindside movement by his team to dive over for a try.

Only 3 minutes into the second half Wayne Boynton fed Soper into the clear and he scored.
Not to be outdone, Mark Crowther, hooker and captain for Invercargill, assisted Soper with a try with some great thinking.

Into 20 minutes into the second half, Invercargill went off the boil, and failed to take control of the game.  Its final try came by way of lock, Chris Johnston getting a clean ball from Winsloe who had made a great run from a scrum.

Proctor had a fine game in the loose while lock Colin Blackie played well until leaving the field.  He overcame the early lineout disadvantages and was in control until he left.  Winsloe had a great game from the back of the scrum while halfback Milton Haig had a controlled game and nearly scored a sizzler of a try after a 55 metre break.  However, he did not have the legs to run away from the Bluff defence.  O'Callaghan was a busy worker in midfield while Soper was again sound at full-back.  

None worked harder for Bluff than No 8. Mitiau and flanker, Mark Perkins who pulled off some fine tackles.  Half-back Chris Hini directed play well in the first half, but saw less of the ball in the second half.  

INVERCARGILL:
Ian Donaldson, Phillip Stevenson, Reid Boynton, Tony Winsloe, Grant Soper, Tony Proctor and Chris Johnston tries; Soper (1) Con

BLUFF:
Jeff Mead try.

REFEREE
B. Crawford.